


A Life That Never Happened (Persona 3 Reincarnation AU)

by EnnIsWritingStuff



Category: Persona 3, Persona Series
Genre: (kinda), Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Alternate Universe - Siblings, Friends to Lovers, How Do I Tag, M/M, Not Beta Read, Slow Burn, Tell Me If You Have Any Tag Suggestions, more tags will be added as we go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-13 01:55:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28770414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnnIsWritingStuff/pseuds/EnnIsWritingStuff
Summary: Ever since he was little, Minato had these strange dreams of things that never happened. It was only once he had turned seven that these dreams turned into nightmares, and he realized that they might be more than just that.
Relationships: Arisato Minako & Arisato Minato, Arisato Minato/Mochizuki Ryoji, Mochizuki Ryoji/Persona 3 Protagonist, Mochizuki Ryoji/Yuuki Makoto
Comments: 5
Kudos: 19





	1. The Nightmares Start

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry the summary is so short, but I'll ramble a little instead. So, I'm posting this just because I can, don't mind my self-indulgence, and buckle up for the ride if you want. It's my first fic ever that was born because of my sheer boredom and desire to escape reality, so don't judge too harshly please, I have no experience in writing whatsoever except for papers for my university. What's more, English is not my first language, but I hope it's not that noticeable.  
> I don't know if this AU was done in P3, but, in any case, this is my own spin on it. Also, initially, I just wanted to write Ryomina(there's not enough of it), but I got carried away with my idea so yea. It'll happen eventually tho, and I'll add it to the tags then... Also, expect many tropes. I have no idea how bad it'll get tho (::

He's had these strange dreams for as long as he remembers. It was nothing at first, actually: dreaming of going to a festival in Kyoto with his parents and his twin sister when he was five, for example. It was just something that simply never happened, just his brain coming up with a scenario that was not unlikely. He seemed really happy in that dream, and he's had many dreams like it before and after, and at the time the strangest thing about them was that his sister seemed to have the same dreams as well.

It's when he was seven that the dreams turned into nightmares. The very first nightmare he had was of an incident that happened as they were returning home from a visit to their grandma, and yet it never really happened at all. Still, he remembers it in great detail: the burning car, the smell of blood and ashes, his sister's mangled corpse, his father’s unmoving body, his mother's last words that were said with a slight smile on her face... And, as she breathed her last, the sky turning green, a huge yellow moon eliminating the bridge brighter than any streetlight could, a high tower rising seemingly out of nowhere, it's abstract and incomprehensible architecture beyond wildest imagination.

It was next that he saw something so breathtaking, yet oh so horrifying at the same time: two blurred silhouettes as if dancing with one another… or were they fighting? No, it was definitely the latter, if the bright flashes of light and sounds of gunshots were enough to assume that. After a few seconds (or where those minutes?) of this happening, there was a crash, followed by a lot of smoke. It is from all that smoke that he saw a silhouette of a person coming out, the shape definitely being human, yet somehow he knew it was not. As it became clearer, he saw a blonde woman with blue eyes that seemed to be dimmer than they should. There was something off about her, and, upon a closer look, he noticed her metal joints. If it were not for the situation he was in, he would be in awe at seeing a real-life robot, but all he could do now is watch in stupor as the not-human lady approached him. Looking down at him with an empty expression on her really convincing-looking human face, she lowered her hand, definitely holding something. After that, there was nothing but darkness.

He remembers waking up drenched in sweat, gasping for air. Looking around, he realized he was in his room, staring at the glowing stars covering the top bunk of his bed. As if sensing his distress, his sister called out to him, head peeking down curiously at the lower bunk:

"Hey, did you have a bad dream Toto?" she asks, barely above a whisper.

"Y-yeah," Minato answers, still quite shaken, but now able to talk. "W-we were going back home from grandma's, but then... "

"Oh! I've had a dream similar to this just now!" Minako exclaimed, not letting the younger twin finish.

"R-really?"

Why was she so calm then..?

"Yup! But there was nothing scary about it! Mom and dad even promised that we would go to Destiny Land on our birthday, " she happily remembered. "It's a shame I woke up so suddenly though, I didn't get to see what happened next."

Being a smart little kid that he was, and comparing his twin’s memories to his own, Minato immediately realized that the moment Minako's dream had ended was the same as the moment the car crash happened. That would mean...

"So, did you get to see the end of that dream, Toto?" Minako tilted her head curiously. "Did something bad happen next?"

That's when Minato decided that he should not tell her how the dream ended. Telling her about her apparent death in their dream would accomplish nothing but make her worry, and he wouldn't want that. It was just a dream, and his twin was alive and well, so what does it matter anyway?

"I... Don't remember, " he lied, praying that Minako wouldn't notice just how shaken he still was.

"Okay, you little weirdo. Are you sure you're okay though? You can't hide your emotions from me, you know," her last words sounded a tad bit teasing.

"Yea. Let's just... Go back to sleep, Minako."

"Alright," a long yawn followed. "G'night, dork," was the last thing that the elder twin said, falling asleep right after. Minato wondered how she could do it with so much ease.

"Good night. "

Sleep did not come to him at all that night.

Actually, he had trouble falling asleep for weeks after that. It didn't help at all that he kept having the same dream over and over again, night after night. As time went by, he got used to having that nightmare every so often, but it never failed to completely horrify him. His sister, as it seems, stopped having those dreams entirely, soon forgetting that they shared dreams to begin with. Minato himself, on the other hand, started having even more sleepless nights.

He dreamt of living at his grandma's. Each night he was thinking about his parents, about his sister. His grandmother had to comfort him a lot during that time. Not even a few months passed as his grandmother passed away, and, with no other family left, he was sent to an orphanage. It seems he, in his dreams, gradually started to lock the memories of that fateful night deep inside his own mind, so it wouldn't hurt him anymore. Wouldn't it be nice, to be able to do that in his daily life as well? Because no matter how much he wanted it, he still saw his family's dead, unmoving bodies in his dreams every so often. At this point, he doesn't think it will ever stop.

To not let it get to him, he decided to take up a facade of a silent child, never really showing how he really feels. Minato didn't want his family to worry, after all. They, of course, noticed that the usually energetic kid (who, at times, was even more mischievous than his sister) completely changed his demeanor, but he found showing as little emotion as possible to be much easier than trying to act the way he wasn't.

It's not like he could tell them about his night terrors. They were far too detailed and heavy to just be a creation of his wild imagination; in fact, he was sure that it was all real. He didn't know how it could be, considering his family was alive and doing quite nicely, but Minato was sure that it did happen, even if not to his current self. That's why he never talked about it, not wanting anyone to even try writing it off as a simple nightmare.

And so, he continued living his life with all that knowledge, never sharing it with even someone as close as Minako, hoping that it would all make sense one day...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now! I may finish this, but don't get your hopes up too much. So far, I'm enjoying it though? so I do want to continue for now.  
> And yes, as you might've guessed, Minako will not play too much of an important role in this story, and the Subling AU part won't be something I'm planning to focus on. I just love Minako too much to not at least include her here, and I'm simply too much of a fan of the idea that she is cannon, even if she may be dead in MC's route.  
> In any case, I hope this wasn't too bad and that you've enjoyed it.


	2. Like Meeting An Old Friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was bored again and didn't feel like drawing, so I ended up writing the second chapter instead :D  
> Enjoy!

Around a year and a half passed since the night Minato first had that nightmare, and he's become quite reserved in that time. It was surprisingly easy to show as little emotion as possible, and yet, his sister managed to read him almost perfectly. That didn't surprise the boy, he and Minako were quite close, after all. Well, the strange nightmares aside. He just couldn't bring himself to tell her.

Thankfully, those were not the only dreams he's had. After a bit, a strange boy started appearing in them. He wore striped pajamas and had piercing blue eyes and short raven black hair. When they've met for the very first time, the weird kid scared him quite a bit. After all, who wouldn't get scared seeing someone who clearly shouldn't be there this late at night? Not to mention that the sky outside was an alarming shade of green... He noticed this change occur right at midnight every night. All the other kids in the room seemed to disappear at that time too, big metal coffins taking their place instead.

Never the less, in his dreams, Minato had somehow become friends with the boy. His name was Pharos, and he turned out to be a very curious kid. It was as if he didn't know anything about the world or how it works, asking Minato an endless amount of questions. Usually, Minato would consider people like him annoying, but, weirdly enough, he actually enjoyed his new friend’s company a lot. He even felt quite sad that he could only see him so late at night, and for such a short amount of time, although Pharos assured him that he was always there with him.

Time passed both in Minato's dreams and his waking life, and he actually started enjoying having dreams again, save for the occasional nightmare. When he was sleeping, he would see the many talks he’s had with his new friend, the times they played, read books together... He almost started wanting to be friends with this boy as well, just like his dream self. It's not that he was lonely or anything, he had his sister, after all. It's just that he felt that if he were to meet the kid in striped pajamas he could tell him everything and finally get some peace.

It was two more years later that he finally got his wish.

On the first day of their 5th year at Gekkoukan Elementary, Minako was walking beside her brother with a spring in her step, excitedly talking about a supposed new kid who'd join their class. Smiling slightly at seeing his twin be as energetic as always, he just nodded along, not really paying attention to her exact words. A new kid, huh? He was mildly curious about who that might be, but it's not like he'd try to befriend them anyway. That's something his sister would do, always eager to meet new people and make as many friends as possible. He, on the other hand, likes to keep to himself, Minako being pretty much his only friend at school.

Sometime later they took their seats in the classroom, waiting for the teacher to come introduce the newest addition to their class. Minato was absent-mindedly scribbling, not even bothering to look up immediately after the door opened.

"Good morning, class! I'm happy to finally see you after the holidays," the teacher began, her tone as warm as always. "As you might've heard, this year we have a new student join us. Please, introduce yourself.”

"My name is Ryoji Mochizuki, nice to meet you!" the new boy said, voice loud and energetic, and exactly the same as the one Minato's heard time and time again in his dreams.

Finally looking up from his scribbles, he was quite shocked to see that same child standing almost right in front of him, maybe just slightly older if anything. Without a mistake, that was Pharos, wearing a school uniform instead of his striped pajamas, his hair slightly longer than Minato remembered as well. The name didn't match, but otherwise, the resemblance was uncanny for it to simply be a coincidence.

Completely confused, shocked, and even happy, the blue-haired boy noticed Ryoji staring at him in wonder as well. Does that mean he recognized him too?

"Alright, take a seat right there," the teacher said, pointing to the seat behind one of his classmates. Yukari, if he recalled correctly. She was one of Minako's friends and came over to their house every so often, but he never really bothered to get to know her at all. Speaking of Minako...

"Are you okay, Toto?" Minato heard his sister whisper beside him. "You dropped your pen and just started staring."

"I'm okay," the younger sibling said, finally getting pulled out of his thoughts. "I was just thinking."

Bringing his attention back to the new kid, Minato noticed that he had already taken his place, chatting with a girl right next to him. He'll... Have to talk to him later.

"Attention, please! I know you're all excited to get to know Ryoji better, but we need to start now. You can chat all you want after class," the teacher said, and the lessons proceeded as usual. Minato couldn't focus at all though – all he could think about was just how eager he was to become friends with Pharos once again.

As it turned out, starting a conversation with Ryoji was harder than anticipated. No, it wasn't that the blue-eyed boy didn't want to talk, quite the opposite. As soon as the lunch break started, he was surrounded by a swarm of other kids, all curious about the new student, and the latter only seemed happy with all the attention, talking to everyone at once. Minato wanted to talk in private (he couldn't talk about his weird dreams in front of everyone, after all), but it seems that it wouldn't happen during the break.

Thankfully, he didn't have to wait until the next day, at least. Just as the last lesson had ended, his sister, having already talked to Ryoji during the lunch break, was all too eager to introduce them to one another.

"So, little weirdo, I've noticed you staring at the new boy earlier today, and I know you're too shy to introduce yourself without my help," she started, and Minato wanted to object to that last part, but didn't get to. "So I've decided to do it myself. In case you spaced out and didn't hear his name, this is–"

"It's alright, Minako-chan," Ryoji interrupted, his voice light and carefree. "I can introduce myself, you know."

"Right," the brunette blushed a little. "I got carried away in my excitement. It's not often that Toto seems so eager to make new friends."

"I'm right here, you know. Don't talk as if I can't hear," to anyone else, his voice would sound deadpan, and maybe a bit aggressive, but his sister picked up that Minato was actually slightly embarrassed at being talked about like that.

"Yea, sorry," she didn't sound sorry at all, slightly teasing maybe. "Anyway, I think you can handle this yourself then, Ryoji-kun. I promised Yukari we'd hang out after school today, so I have to get going. I hope you two get along!"

And with that, she ran off.

"Your sister sure is something," Ryoji said with a smile. "Not in a bad way, of course. So, I'm sure that you've heard during my introduction, but I'm Ryoji Mochizuki. Just call me by my first name."

"Minato Arisato," was the short answer. "But I'm sure sis already told you."

"Sure did. But would you call me crazy if I told you that I knew your name even before I walked into the classroom today?"

The last part was said in a quiet, almost conspiratorial voice. That was all that Minato needed to know. He was then suddenly overcome with a desire to be as open with the new boy as possible. It was like meeting an old friend (well, that was actually exactly what it was) that you've known all your life.

"Actually, I would," said the kid with blue hair. "Mind if we–"

"Discuss it on our way from school? Sure!"

As they were walking, they talked about many things: mainly about the strange dreams they've both been having for quite a while. Minato was not surprised to find out that Ryoji had them too, yet he was still relieved at having his suspicions confirmed.

The slightly taller boy talked about the very dream that started all of this first. It rang some bells with Minato, reminding him of his reoccurring nightmare. There was even that same blonde girl there. It felt like they could be the same event, just from a different point of view. The dream that the kid with blue eyes had, however, was much too blurry and incomprehensible to entirely make sense of.

The blue-haired boy, in turn, told Ryoji of his nightmares. He didn't want to talk about them all that much, of course, but he thought it would be better to finally get it off his chest once and for all. Ryoji listened attentively, never interrupting, seemingly thinking it over and trying to connect it to his own. Although, as he later mentioned, he didn't manage to come to a satisfactory conclusion. In the end, the idea of the two dreams being connected was just a feeling they both had, not sure of exactly what the connection was. That metal lady aside, of course. It was just too much to be a simple coincidence.

Everything unpleasant out of the way, the boys started talking about the other dreams they shared. Both of them seemed to remember them in great detail, each filling in for things the other may have forgotten. Minato didn't even notice how much he talked, getting completely carried away with their conversation. In fact, he doesn't think he's ever talked so much in his life. And when Minato got tired of talking, Mochizuki was there to continue right where they left off.

By the end of their walk, they breezed through their favorite dreams with ease. As they parted, they were both sure that they were already best friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm trying to write dialogs more. I find them a bit hard, but I hope I'll get used to it soon.  
> Man, I'm ending up feeling a lot more anxious about my dumb idea, I just doubt myself a lot since I've never written fanfics before. I hope this is not too stupid. Anyway, I didn't wanna wait for too long before introducing Ryoji here, I just love him way too much.  
> Also, I just like the idea that the first time Minato met Pharos was long before him ever first coming to the Iwatodai dorms, okay? It's my fanfic I do what I want :P  
> Oh and one more thing... I know the chapters are kinda short, but I'm planning on making them longer later on. I'm just starting out and warming up for now, I guess.


End file.
